geolocation

Marketed to parents but designed for kids. That's the approach of Disney Mobile, announced at the big wireless communications trade show in Las Vegas this week. This fairly customizable (and thus kid-friendly) camera phone for 10-to-15-year-olds (or more realistically 7-to-10-year-olds – can't imagine a 15-year-old using a kid cellphone) makes Mom or Dad the phone's "family manager," USATODAY … [Read more...] about The Disney phone

I know, I sound so sci-fi. But there's nothing other-worldly about zombie masters, unfortunately. An awful lot of family PCs like yours and mine are "zombies" (computers that have been infected by Trojan software that gives control of them to the senders of the Trojan carrying worm or virus), unbeknownst to us! The "zombie masters" are the people who control whole networks (called "botnets") of … [Read more...] about Zombie masters caught

Two Dutch phone companies have unveiled cellphones just for kids, the iKids and the Buddy Bear, the latter targeting 4-to-9-year-olds, The Register reports. The iKids has "a built in GPS receiver, which remains working even when the phone isn't activated. Parents can select three 'safety zones,' areas where their children are allowed to play. If they wander off to another area, parents receive an … [Read more...] about Netherlands: Kid phones

It seems to be a trend: kid surveillance. MSNBC.com takes a sweeping look at all the options, from RFID chips in amusement park wristbands to monitoring their every keystroke in cyberspace. The New York Times reports on GPS on schoolbuses and Webcams at school, and the Christian Science Monitor editorializes on how much surveillance is too much. More and more the focus seems to be on keeping tabs … [Read more...] about Phones & kids 6-12